We travel-constantly. It is our hobby, joy and passion. After many years of travel we now choose trips based on either finding a place we haven't been or a unique adventure. We have enjoyed our membership with TravLtips since an extended voyage on the Amazing Grace several years ago. When we received the advertisement one week on the Royal Clipper with a second week for FREE, we initially thought it was too good to be true. Within half an hour we were on the phone with Krista and booked the trip. We keep a detailed log on all our travels and the following is a bit of the story of the Royal Clipper. We had high expectations and every one was surpassed. A magnificent ship and a once-in-a-lifetime trip (except we are going again)!

November 6 - Boarding in Barbados
We got off the plane and there was the transportation-efficient, ready and waiting. It took no more than five minutes to receive our paperwork and we were on deck with a welcoming cocktail and appetizers in the Tropical Bar (the main deck level lounge and the largest open space on the ship).
Our cabin seemed small at first but once we unpacked, we realized how spacious it was. There was wood everywhere and the effective use of mirrors to enhance the space made the room absolutely breathtaking. The bathroom had marble floors and walls that actually came in handy when the ship was rocking and we were showering. The entire bathroom could effectively become a shower and hold four inches of water that was drained through multiple drains in a matter of minutes-very ingenious.

Dinner was a surprise, as was the food on the entire trip. We expected good food but not six-course meals with multiple choices at each. And, when we weren't sure, a perfect steak with French fries and salad could be brought to us at any time. The wine selection was extensive and priced very well (Holland America could learn something from this.) They also had a great red and white house wine for 12 euros a bottle, which we had most nights and the beautiful blue bottle became a souvenir. The open seating concept was also excellent. As people came in they sat you either (1) alone and let other people join you; (2) at a table with others who had come in at the same time; or (3) with people of your choosing. There were only two tables for two people and then the rest were for four, six or eight guests. We met almost everyone on each of our two weeks through this method-a very good idea. The maitre d'hotel was actually gently ensuring that everyone met and sat with people whom they enjoyed, and that the guests at any given table were all seated at approximately the same time to ensure that we were simultaneously eating the same course. Have I mentioned yet that the food was fabulous?

An interesting feature of the dining room is its three-story atrium; the huge "skylight" is actually the bottom of one of the swimming pools. At one meal, they were doing scuba training in the pool so there were people swimming overhead. Bill showed a particular fascination for one female in a thong bathing suit who kept sitting on the bottom of the pool.
The hours for meals were also delightful: 6-10 a.m. for breakfast, quite civilized, noon-2:00 p.m. for lunch and 7:30-10:00 p.m. for dinner. Of course, there was a 5:00 p.m. buffet for snacks as well as an 11:30 p.m. buffet-the food was plentiful and always different and delicious. OK, enough about food.

10:00 p.m. was the first "Sail Away" leaving Barbados. This is a moving, impressive and emotional experience that only people who have been on a Star Clippers' ship can truly understand. You go on the upper deck of this magnificent vessel, 30 sailors come up, the music from 1492 by Vangelis (emotional and dramatic music on its own) begins playing over the loudspeakers and they raise the sails. There is motorized and computer support, but that's the extent of "support." The heavy lifting is done by machines but without the sailors and the captain and particularly the bosun, the ship can't sail.

The four crossings from Barbados to the islands, across the Atlantic, were basically the only rough parts (oh, well, maybe Tropical Storm Gamma-I'll get to that in a minute) but we loved the gentle rocking of the strongly stabilized ship. It puts us to sleep every night and we never had a problem with sea legs or seasickness.

November 7 - Union Island
Today was one of the most exciting days and a great way to set the tone, and feel, of the trip.

First, muster and fire drill practice. We can't sneak away from this like on big cruise ships because they take a roll call and check to be sure that we are all standing there with life jackets properly on. Then they give about a half-hour training session for emergencies. It was very well done. We actually felt that we knew what to do in an emergency but, more importantly, that they knew who we were and exactly how to handle any problems-very reassuring.

We picked up snorkel gear and got acquainted with the sports staff: three energetic young people from Sweden, Australia and Denmark. They were always keeping us busy and would customize anything: special snorkeling trips in the ship's three Zodiacs, banana boat rides at reasonable speeds (or dumping you off if requested) and swimming or snorkeling off the back of the ship. Scuba and lightning-class sailboats were also available.
Then we went to the most beautiful, quiet, private beach to relax after the stress of the emergency practice-note there was coffee and pastries during roll call. It was perfectly deserted. At one point I got thirsty and regretted not having a water bottle. When I looked down the beach I noticed our head bartender, in his bright red Hawaiian bartender shirt, sitting on a cooleryes, you guessed it: beer, cold water, rum punchwhatever you wanted, he had it-on a deserted beach.

During the "Sail Away" that evening, they put us on the tenders and we circled the ship while they raised all of the 42 sails and, of course, it was all done in a blazing sunset. The photos are actually not even believable. Back on board they served champagne to us as we walked off the tender and a small snack was available so that we could relax before going to our cabins to change for dinner.

By now I was totally hooked, hence I had no complaints about Tropical Storm Gamma.

Sailing overnight was so calm that Bill was sure the ship wasn't even moving. We were under sail 80% of the time during the entire trip.

November 8 - Grenada
We slept very late and then relaxed by one of the three pools until the ship docked in Grenada and then went ashore. 75% of the structures on the island were damaged by the recent hurricane. The most shocking were the huge churches, which only had a wall or two remaining. It will take years to reconstruct. However, the ship terminal was new and modern and well equipped-which is very different from the previous times we had been to this island.

Dinner was "Caribbean Night" with a local steel band providing entertainment and dancing. The evening entertainment was always excellent and low key, relaxed and suitable for all ages and interests. Local entertainers came on board or the staff entertained us but most often the guests entertained each other. You could be quietly on your own or dancing with other passengers to the wide range of music provided by the on board musicians.

November 9 - Tobago Cays
The most perfect beach day of my life! As usual, we slept in late. We woke up to a rainbow that stretched from one side of the sea to the other. An auspicious start to the day and it just went uphill.

We went to the Cays and they were superb-it's hard to keep finding words to describe these beaches with white sand for miles and the pleasure of snorkeling in warm water! Tobago Cays is where the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie was filmed, so it's picture-perfect.
Today was our first beach barbecue experience with the Royal Clipper. Lunch magically appeared on the shoreline-an entire buffet with linens, crystal and silver serving dishes. The food was barbecued right on the beach: steaks, chicken, ribs, hotdogs, hamburgers, and three kinds of fish-definitely not your basic barbecue fare. I had read about these things in magazines but never thought that I would experience it. There were salads and, of course, the barmen were there with a full bar. The cooks and the servers were all on the beach wearing their white uniforms and hats-what a sight. I honestly could not believe my eyes. They kept this going for two hours!

Ruth asked for a Bloody Mary-a girl has to have something for breakfast! They had not included Bloody Mary mix on the lunch bar supplies. But 15 minutes later the barman brought her one as they sent a Zodiac back to the ship to get the mix for her-typical of the ship's service.
We returned to the ship at the end of the afternoon. After a two-hour nap, dinner and dancing under the stars, the sails moved us quietly through the water.

November 10 - Mustique
The ship stopped in St. Vincent in the morning and then repositioned to Bequia in the afternoon. Never being adverse to a bit of adventure, Bill and I decided to go visit our friend Basil Charles on Mustique as he happened to be there and we hadn't seen him in quite awhile. We have fond memories of our time spent on Mustique as Basil's guests on more than one occasion. So, we checked off the ship. This was a first time experience for them because we even needed to take back our passports in case we didn't join the ship properly and had to catch up with them in another country! Mustique, Bequia and St. Vincent are all part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines but Martinique the next day was French territory.

We left the ship at 8:30 a.m. in the pouring rain. We took a taxi to the airport, and for $39 each we were on the 10:30, eight-minute flight to Mustique. We were met at the airport and spent the next two hours sitting in Basil's bar reading, drinking his fine wine and reminiscing about our previous vacations on the island-it was perfect. Basil joined us for lunch and we were his guests (he owns the restaurant). Ruth had fresh lobster caught that morning and Bill had a lobster salad. Then Basil took us on a tour. Basil is a unique individual and we could describe his achievements for hours. His charitable works even surpass his business activities and the latter are formidable. For his work, the Queen awarded him the Order of the British Empire (OBE) last year at Buckingham Palace.

The adventure begins: We needed to get back to Bequia to meet the ship. We had made arrangements for a "boat" (and I use the term very loosely) to pick us up and drive the 45 minutes between the two islands. Our mini-craft arrives, we get in, and the driver backs it up and breaks the pin holding the propeller. Half an hour later, with all kinds of fishermen and workers contributing to the cause, they improvised-not a verb that I like when heading out in rough currents with six-to-eight-foot seas-a fix.

Basil was just at the point of putting us in a fisherman's boat that, to my eyes, looked much sturdier, and the fisherman-owner much more reliable than the 18-year old using borrowed wire and pliers to hold the propeller in place. But he was there, our $250 was committed and so off into the sea we went with this broken boat and young captain. Five minutes into the ride he asked both Bill and I to stand and hold on to ropes to get the nose of the boat down in the water. Then we had to change sides at one point for some reason. The waves were unbelievably high and the boat was bouncing all over the place. Whenever he tried to pick up even a bit of speed, we were flying in the air so high that Ruth got scared-we made him go slowly. The entire time we had bright sunshine on our left and a huge wall of rain approaching us quickly from the right-the race was on.

After 30 minutes, we were close to Bequia and it would take him another 20 minutes to go around to the other side of the island to the port where our ship was supposed to be. We had enough of his boat and were also afraid that we might have missed the last tender, having neglected to confirm what time the ship was sailing-a small oversight. Therefore we asked him to drop us on the far side of the island where we were and we would take a taxi. He did this, however, it was a thoroughly local, non-tourist area and taxis don't go there and can't be called. For our next stunt, we were put on the local "bus" (I'm using this term even more loosely than "boat" earlier.) The bus was a six-passenger van, with a minimum of eight to ten people in it, with no doors on one side so that people could jump in and out while it was moving. It also served as the school bus and school had obviously just gotten out. It stopped whenever someone wanted to get on and this could, on occasion, be every 30 feet. There was no concept of "bus stop"-either for people gathering in one spot to get on or for slowing down to let people off. It, of course, went the long way around the island, up and down and around every curve imaginable right on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the sea (so, we got to see more of Bequia than anyone else on the cruise!) finally dropping us off at the shore.

We saw our ship out in the harbor but there were no tenders in sight. Finally, we saw a fellow Royal Clipper passenger and discovered that the last tender was arriving any minute. We jumped on and were home again. Our adventure caused quite a stir on the Clipper. We loved it-a great way to spend a day and everyone needs at least one good story. A stiff drink, immediately upon arrival on the Royal Clipper, in crystal of course, made the whole thing fun.

The "Captain's Dinner" followed with everyone getting an opportunity to dress up a bit (no formal attire at all on this vessel). We had dinner with one of the many interesting couples on board. All of the staff spoke at least English, French and German. The working language of the crew was predominantly Russian and Spanish. Multiculturalism prevailed amongst guests and staff: Monica, the cruise director is Brazilian, Captain Tovstokoryy is Ukrainian, the bosun is from Goa, the head barman from Dominica, the maitre d'hotel from Croatia, the executive chef from the Philippines, and the chief engineer from India. Passengers were equally diverse representing Europe, the US and Canada. 66 passengers were on board due to the TravLtips special. One lady had been on Star Clippers' ships 75+ times, she basically lives on Star Clippers' ships, and another couple had already been on board seven weeks when we got on. The majority had sailed on the ship at some point in the last five years since she was built. Are you starting to get a message here that this is a unique and special "find" for us somewhat jaded travelers?

November 11 - Martinique
Pouring rain and rough seas caused the scheduled beach stop in the morning to be cancelled. We grabbed a bucket of Bloody Marys and went back to the room where we stayed in bed and read and slept until 2:00 p.m. Then we enjoyed prime rib for lunch-the food continues to be excellent.

Bill headed ashore to Martinique in the afternoon but, as Armistice Day is a national holiday in France, everything was shut down and the streets were deserted. We were glad that we would be returning the next week because his trip ashore indicated the potential for fabulous and typically French shopping-shoes, high fashion, etc. I was looking forward to our return visit!

November 12 - St Lucia (morning - Marigot Bay; afternoon - La Soufrière)
We had been to Marigot Bay before and were disappointed to see that the quaint factor was gone and that the entire Bay was under construction to make a huge resort. We took a one-minute water taxi ride across the Bay to an old, beautiful hotel property where we sun bathed. Ruth received a half-hour hour beach massage, used the Internet, relaxed and then returned to the ship for lunch and the short sail to La Soufrière. As we had both been to town before we decided to stay on board. As was typical of the Royal Clipper, they put together a special trip-we jumped on their Zodiacs and snorkeled at the very base of the Pitons. (Who gets to do that? We've been to St Lucia three times and never got to snorkel at the base of the Pitons-unbelievable.) It was the best coral reef we had seen in four years.

November 13 - Barbados
We slept in until all the poor passengers who only had one week on board had departed. Jubilant that, thanks to TravLtips, we had our free second week on board, we ate a quiet breakfast as we pretty much had the ship to ourselves.

We hired a driver to do a tour of the island as on Sunday everything commercial is closed up tight. That evening, we enjoyed another great dinner and met all the new passengers. And then, we set sail again. The ship had to leave a bit quickly as we were actually in the eye of Tropical Storm Gamma.

Monday, November 14 - St Lucia
Rodney's Bay was called this time but, as we were in the middle of a tropical storm, not much action and very few of the organized excursions actually occurred. Since we did not book any of these excursions for the entire trip (having been to all the islands but Dominica before) we were always able to make our own plans despite the weather. A day of reading, sleeping and eating is actually part of a luxury vacation, so no complaints from us on a day of rain. The ship rocked but not enough to cause discomfort-and, we're experiencing a tropical storm with an actual name here!

November 15 - Dominica
Nothing like going to an island that is 80% rainforest in the rain-it seemed appropriate. Dominica is a beautiful, mysterious, primeval-looking island-it almost appears to belong in the South Pacific with huge palm trees down to the water's edge.

The day started with an amazing event: Our smaller sister sailing ship, the Star Clipper, was in the same area and the two ships sailed side by side for two hours. Later, the staff decided to take one of the tenders out in search of some snorkeling and about 30 of us took this safari. It was raining, but when you are in the water who knows the difference? After yet another wonderful dinner, there were crab races on deck. We made an Ottawa consortium with another couple and won more than $35.

November 16 - Antigua
The sun came out and everyone was thrilled-a beach day similar to Tobago Cays with the fabulous barbecue and water sports awaited us.

Another steel band came on at 9:00 p.m. and the "Sail Away" was at 10:00. There were amazing stars and a very special effect with the full moon. I was now almost obsessed with sitting on the upper deck in the dark while we sailed at night watching the stars and the moon and the water. When I went up on deck late at night in the dark, out of nowhere there was always a sailor with a flashlight who stayed quietly behind me but made sure I could see where I was going and was safe and quietly cared for. Truly, the mega-yacht experience!

November 17 - St. Kitts
It was another perfect, sunny day. The storm, northwest of us now, was bothering other people. In the morning, we sun bathed on board and swam in the pool. Ruth climbed out on the "widow's net" in front of the bow. She also assisted the bosun in putting the anchor down (OK, maybe did some active watching); 75 meters of chain went out before the anchor caught-that's deep water. Most of the passengers had gone on organized excursions. All of the crew would let us "help" them while they worked and were totally available to speak to passengers and explain what they were doing and why. Even Captain Oleg Tovstokoryy was available seemingly 24/7 to be with the passengers.

We went to the beach and had the best snorkeling of the entire trip, right off shore. Topping off the afternoon with an on-beach aloe massage by locals, we were finally dragged on as the last people aboard the tender. Once again, formal music enhanced "Sail Away" under the stars and moon.

November 18 - Isle des Saintes
Ah-France for a couple of days. We walked through the village and then to the local beach-the ship was tendering other passengers to another beach further down the coast. Quiet, topless and wonderful. We wandered back into town and found a restaurant that had a terrace on the roof. We were the only patrons up there and we ate French food and drank French wine for two hours with a full view of the harbor and the shops and everything going on down below. The "Sail Away" was in a full sunset and was really enhanced by the captain renewing two guests' wedding vows while the ship's musicians played on deck. A lobster dinner followed by a talent show by crew and guests rounded out the day.

November 19 - Martinique
Shopping in France doesn't get any better than this! Four pairs of shoes, a white linen suit for Bill, two tank tops, one beach wrap, one beach towel and a few other bags of goodies-all in the three hours we were there.

The ship left early as the vacation was almost over and once again we had to make our way across the Atlantic to Barbados. Once the captain had us out to sea, he invited everyone up on deck and had the ship do maneuvers. The most interesting was a 360-degree turn, under sail, which is apparently quite difficult with a square-rigged vessel-it took 13 minutes. We then began the sad task of packing and getting ready to leave the luggage outside the door. The final dinner culminated with the traditional baked Alaska and goodbyes.

Sunday, November 20 - Bridgetown, Barbados
Our flight wasn't until 4:00 p.m., and we had to leave the ship by 9:30 a.m., so we took Star Clippers transition package and stayed at a beach with changing rooms, towels, chairs and secure luggage holding. We swam and relaxed until 1:00 p.m. when a car came and took us to the airport. At midnight we were back home and new people were now having their first "Sail Away" on the wonderful Royal Clipper.

General Comments and Observations:

o This is definitely something everyone should do at least once. The value per dollar is better than any cruise ship or package deal we have taken.
o The experience is more for the ship and the sailing. Time in port was often very short, especially with the need to tender back and forth. Those passengers who wanted to see all the islands, some of them for the first time, were only able to get a small taste. They were also dependent on using the ship's arranged excursions (all were well priced and received positive feedback from participants).
o The ship is impeccable. Even in the roughest seas-and a tropical depression probably counts-nothing in the room rattled, moved or slid. Everything was quiet.
o When there was a cruise ship and the Royal Clipper in a port at the same time, it was fun to hear the locals refer to the "ship" and the "yacht"-it had a nice ring to it.
o Laundry service on board is outstanding. We sent a few items out and they came back in better condition than when we boarded the ship.
o Staff is excellent-no problems or complaints whatsoever.
o Take this trip folks!

Ruth Matte & Bill Grant, Ottawa, Ontario

Current Data: The 439-foot Royal Clipper accommodates up to 227 passengers. This modern vessel is the largest five-masted fully rigged ship built since the legendary Preussen in 1902. Passenger accommodations and amenities are the equal of the finest contemporary yacht. All outside cabins are thoughtfully designed and feature private marble bathrooms, hair dryers, private safe and TV. There are a few minimum-priced inside cabins that are smaller with more modest amenities.Public areas include a forward observation lounge, library, Tropical Bar, the elegant three-tiered Clipper Dining Room and the Captain Nemo Lounge with spa facilities and underwater viewing portholes. With her 42 sails deployed, she navigates under 56,000 feet of sail. There is plenty of deck space and three small pools.

9.15.06
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